Ming from Agents of Speech debunks the myth that ages 2-6 are the only window for speech therapy. There's no research supporting a hard cutoff, and believing the period is over can damage a child's progress. A pediatrician once told a parent the window was closed, but Ming says there's plenty of time to make real gains.
From 2 to 6 years of age is the golden period for intervention, for treatment, for speech and language therapy, for occupational therapy, for ABA training, whatever. That is a myth. Why? Obviously, it makes sense to do early intervention as early as possible, but there's no such thing as a golden period. First of all, there's no research pointing towards that. The reason why people are saying two to six is a golden period for intervention is to push parents to do early intervention. Why do we want early intervention? Because if you don't do it now, it's harder to treat later on because the problems get dis. I was talking to a parent yesterday. She was telling me, oh, no, my kid's five. The pediatrician said it's over the golden period for therapy. And I said, hey, if you think that way, then it's going to limit your belief and it's going to make you feel like whatever you do is not going to work. The child's going to feel it. So don't think that way. There's more than enough time for you to catch up.
